Willis McGahee goes through drills under the tutelage of runnings backs coach Eric Studesville on Tuesday during the mandatory minicamp at Dove Valley. McGahee worked out in Miami instead of Denver during the offseason, missing voluntary sessions.

Q: With minicamp being the last thing on the Broncos’ schedule before training camp opens (in late July), do they feel like there are still issues and questions remaining? Do they need to sign anybody else?

A: This week’s minicamp will essentially conclude the Broncos’ offseason program. While some players will still use the facility for workouts and conditioning as long as they can, the work with the coaching staff as position groups will be finished until the team reports for training camp in late July.

This week’s three-day minicamp is the only mandatory portion of the Broncos’ offseason program for the players, meaning it’s the only time in the offseason the team could fine a player who didn’t show. And the Broncos can have more on-field time in minicamp than it can in the other organized team activities (OTAs).

In minicamp, they can have a full practice to go with another on-field workout that is a walk-through.

But players wear no pads, there’s little contact and they will exit the week with much the same questions overall they opened it with, so they will just need to sit down as a staff and decide their comfort level with the current state of affairs with what they have seen over the last month.

And leading the way in the questions is the offensive line.

They have three players who were starters up front who are still not full speed — left tackle Ryan Clady (shoulder), center J.D. Walton (ankle) and guard Chris Kuper (ankle). Clady, who was designated the team’s franchise player, has also not attended any portion of the team’s offseason program thus far because he wants a long-term contract.

Walton has done some limited work on the field during OTAs with the team’s strength and conditioning staff and Kuper has not yet returned to a full workout program or participated in any of the on-field work.

That’s 202 regular-season starts for the Broncos currently not in the lineup.

Free agent signee Louis Vasquez tempers the potential issues with Kuper’s recovery, but Kuper’s long-term future is still a question mark given how much he has had to deal with since fracturing and dislocating his ankle in the final regular-season game of 2011.

The Broncos have Manny Ramirez, who started 11 games in Kuper’s right guard spot last season, taking snaps at center with the starting offense these days. Ramirez had some struggles in pass protection last season when he filled in for Kuper, but Vasquez’s signing should shore up things in the middle if the Broncos need Ramirez to stay in the lineup.

The Broncos have made it pretty clear by their actions they believed Ramirez was a better option to play at center now than bringing back Dan Koppen. Walton, the Broncos say, is still on track to participate in training camp, and if the medical staff still believes that as the team exits minicamp, the Broncos would likely hold off making any moves for a veteran center.

Clady, too, is expected to be medically ready to participate at least some in training camp, but the Broncos haven’t really seen him up close, so they will have to trust that their left tackle is doing the work to rehab his shoulder.

Left tackle is always a key spot in a passing offense, and if, for some reason, Clady isn’t full speed by the start of the regular season, the Broncos would have to consider some offensive adjustments along the way, wuch as more two-tight end looks or simply shifting a single tight end to the offensive left, making that the strong side of the formation.

Unless an experienced NFL left tackle gets released who is also healthy with some playing mileage left on the odometer, and that’s rare, the Broncos have committed to taking a look at Chris Clark in Clady’s spot through these workouts.

Beyond that, however, the signing of Shaun Phillips during the draft weekend and defensive back Quentin Jammer this month filled the two most likely get-a-guy spots on the depth chart.

So, offensive line will remain the spot with the biggest question mark next to it as the Broncos turn toward training camp, at least until they show at least some of the injured players have healed or their replacements are up to the task with a team that has hopes for reaching the Super Bowl.

More in Sports

Big Sunday at the sold-out PC, where the Avalanche never trailed in a 5-1 victory over Detroit. Given the score and the circumstance, our game story is all about Nathan MacKinnon and his Hart Trophy candidacy.

Six seasons of fighting onto rosters and into starting roles caught the eye of the Broncos, who believe Case Keenum's mentality will be contagious in the locker room and his skill will stabilize an offense in disarray.